GUYANESE society today functions within the context of the Age of Information, of a global Knowledge Society, of the pervasive openness of the digital frontier evolving with such rapid pace. And the boldest implication of this state of society is that every nation around the world, in order to advance, must be open to new ideas, fresh thinking, innovative solutions, and creative-design thinking. Guyana could only achieve its noble development goals if it cultivates such a public square.
One of the main differences between highly developed societies around the globe, and mediocre nations, is this difference between inculcating quality and high thinking in the public discourse, or allowing mediocre minds to influence the public square. In other words, a nation today needs to exercise enormous care and attention to cultivating a social environment that fosters new ideas, fresh thinking, and high-quality constructive critical public conversations. In acting out this country’s democratic integrity, for example, of the voice of the people making a real contribution to their nation, leaders of this government are showing up on the street in communities everywhere to listen to the grassroots, to cull ideas and suggestions from ordinary people, from farmers and labourers and sugar workers, on what it would take to advance Guyana’s new future.

Guyana could foster either a closed society, or an open, engaging, cooperating social environment, where citizens and leaders engage in an evolving national conversation that moves things forward to everybody’s general satisfaction, contentment, and benefit.
However, to achieve such a state of an uplifted, exalted, advanced social space across the land, it is absolutely necessary that Guyanese do not encourage groupthink conformity to be entrenched on the national scene. This government is showing the confidence and integrity to foster an open social atmosphere.
The days of groupthink conformity and subjugation to political diktat, as practised under the Coalition, are over.
This newspaper believes that the Guyana Government is secure and confident in its ability to manage and lead this nation that it does not need to muzzle, stifle, or harness the public-owned media as its mouthpiece and propaganda arm. Indeed, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic does an excellent job through its own well-developed party public relations and community relations structure, which spans every community across the land. And the Department of Public Information exists to carry out the public outreach job for the state. Thus, the job of this newspaper, this national voice, the domain of the people, is to foster openness, fresh ideas, and new thinking.

This government is confident in its own abilities, and is mature and sophisticated and so grounded in its embrace of democracy, that it is well able to foster a Guyanese society that practises openness, love of new ideas, cultivation of fresh thinking, and the exercise across the society of constructive, critical thinking, sound analyses, and well-researched conclusions on matters of national interest. It is with such an approach to the future that the President Ali administration is advancing this country, with confident openness and a deep desire to see democracy flourish across every facet of the nation. This idea that the Guyanese society cultivates an open, democratic, fully engaged public space and national platform, is a necessary structure to achieve the socioeconomic vision and goals of this government.
Development is not a matter of only building material things. Rather, development entails the fine cultivation of a nation that is sound in its social well-being, in Guyanese being able to feel the pulse of excitement that were they to make a constructive contribution to the national stage, their voice would be welcomed.

The nation saw this practice happen with graphic details during the national resolve and togetherness that defeated those in the Coalition who wanted to trample the democratic integrity of Guyana. Led by the PPP/C, the entire nation, and indeed the world, came together in a beautiful unity, a chorus in unison, to denounce that effort to derail Guyana’s future. Thus, such is the new state of affairs for this country today, with the President Ali administration committed to a nation that is well-developed, that cooperates and exercises national unity with the singular goal of moving forward, and that encourages new ideas, fresh thinking, and constructive criticism to flourish on the public platform. This is why this newspaper’s goal is to foster a positive, engaging forum that bridges the communication needs between the people and their democratically elected government, to engage the nation on the agenda of government to ramp up development across all sectors, and to connect citizens with their state leaders in a way that establishes the free flow of ideas, new thinking, and solutions.

The government respects the fact that the opposition represents a major segment of the population, and President Ali and other senior government officials have reached out to opposition leaders in a spirit of cooperation and camaraderie. It is for the opposition to return the favour and show that they want to engage and be constructive. One of the clear necessities of these times is for the government to implement deep and far-reaching policies, programmes and plans to cultivate nation-wide, this democratic structure of Guyana, for everybody to engage in generating a national, social atmosphere of fostering openness, a constant search for new ideas, and a love for fresh thinking. In schools, public institutions, including the National Assembly, and across every strata of the society, this embrace of openness and new thinking and engaging conversations on the national stage, of encouraging a robust, energetic, confident national discourse, must be inculcated into the inner fabric of how this nation functions, operates, and carries out the affairs of developing a Guyanese people of world-class public rhetoric, a Guyanese nation that seeks always to contribute to Guyana being the best it could be.